Martha Murphy

"I am a self-trained painter, and paint the urban environment. I sell my art on the streets of New York City, and, since 2004, on 53rd Street between 5th and 6th Avenues, which is outside the Museum of Modern Art and the American Folk Art Museum. My first oil painting of New York was of the Chrysler Building. I believe it is representative of my work. It shows my use of color and suggests the image by concentrating on a section of the building, rather than on the whole. Many people know this piece, since I sell it as a poster. Recently, I completed a series of urban color patterns. Many of these color studies are urban forms and architectural details. I am told I construct paintings as a way of seeing how colors sit with each other."